iPhone 6 Plus vs LG G3: Price

The iPhone 6 Plus is one of the most expensive smartphones on the market as it starts at £619 for the cheapest model (£789 for the top model). The LG G3 launched earlier in the year at a reasonable £479 which is a big difference to the new Apple rival. Since it has been around for a while, you can now pick it up for around £380 making the gap even bigger – nearly £250. See: Where to buy iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in the UK.

That's a significant price difference and you may have decided which one to buy simply on this fact but read on to find out how the two smartphones compare in hardware, performance and more.

iPhone 6 Plus vs LG G3: Design

Apple loves making each new iPhone thinner and the iPhone 6 Plus is just 7.1mm, an impressive figure for a phablet. The LG G3 is thicker at 9.1 mm by our own measurement but that's the thickest point of the curved back and the device is a fair amount lighter at 149 g compared to 172 g.

Much of the iPhone 6 Plus' thinness is negated by its weight and overall size. Despite these phones using the exact same screen size, the LG G3 is much more manageable with its more ergonomic shape and tiny bezels. You can see the size difference, mainly in height, in the photo below.

Each device is available in a similar trio of colours and the iPhone's advantage is that it feels more premium with the aluminium uni-body. LG has added a metal effect with what it calls a metallic skin on the removable plastic rear cover but it doesn't cut it when compared to the iPhone 6 Plus.

On the downside, the delicate build of the iPhone 6 Plus, like previous generations, means you'll want to buy a case to protect it and sadly cover up its flowing lines. There are cases available for the LG G3 should you want one but it doesn't require one.

iPhone 6 Plus vs LG G3: Screen

As we've mentioned, these two smartphones have the same screen size which is 5.5in – just making them phablets by our book.

The iPhone 6 Plus is the first time Apple has used a Full HD 1080p resolution on a smartphone and means a pixel density of 401ppi. While that's the highest ever seen on an iPhone, it's blown out of the water by the older LG G3's Quad HD display which uses 1440 x 2560 and a whopping 534ppi. It's crisper than a burnt pancake.

Both use an IPS panel providing excellent viewing angles so it's the resolution which is the big difference here.

iPhone 6 Plus vs LG G3: Processor, memory and performance

The LG G3 comes equipped with a 2.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor and either 2- or 3 GB of RAM depending on the storage capacity. Meanwhile, Apple had installed the 64-bit A8 chip inside the iPhone 6 Plus with the M8 co-processor and 1 GB of RAM.

Although the A8 is 1.4 GHz, the iPhone 6 Plus outpaced the LG G3 in all of our benchmark tests. The difference looks quite big in some areas but bear in mind that these are synthetic tests and you won't notice the difference in real life. We've found both phones to be smooth and speedy, as we would expect from flagship devices.

GeekBench 3

GFXBench T-Rex

GFXBench Manhattan

SunSpider

iPhone 6 Plus

2917

41fps

19fps

369ms

LG G3

2233

20fps

7fps

977ms

iPhone 6 Plus vs LG G3: Battery life

Despite the difference in screen resolution, we've found both phones last a couple of days before needing to be charged - a good performance in today's standards. The LG G3 does have a couple of advantages in this area which are wireless charging and a removable battery.

iPhone 6 Plus vs LG G3: Storage

To get the 3 GB in the LG G3, you'll need to opt for the 32 GB capacity. The 16 GB model comes with 2 GB of RAM. These are the only two options but LG realised it made a mistake by leaving the LG G2 without a microSD card slot so you can add up to a further 128 GB on the G3.

As per usual, Apple doesn’t offer expandable storage but it does give customers more choice in terms of capacity. You can choose 16-, 64- or 128 GB now the 32 GB model is gone. More choice is good but you'll have to pay a lot for the larger models.

iPhone 6 Plus vs LG G3: Wireless

Both the LG G3 and iPhone 6 Plus are fitted with the latest dual-band 11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, 4G LTE support and NFC. However, it's worth noting that Apple, at least for now, is restricting the use of the NFC chip inside the iPhone to ApplePay.

iPhone 6 Plus vs LG G3: Unique features

Depending on what you're looking for in a smartphone, unique features might be difference in choosing between two.

In this case, the iPhone 6 Plus has Apple's Touch ID fingerprint scanner which you can use to unlock the phone and to verify payments including the App Store.

The LG G3 doesn't have a fingerprint scanner but it does offer you an IR blaster which you can use to control other electrical items such as your TV with. It also supports wireless charging and high resolution audio (up to 24bit/192kHz) making a nice trio of features.

iPhone 6 Plus vs LG G3: Cameras

The 6 Plus has the best rear camera of any iPhone to date and although it's still 8 Mp, there are some new things going on which improve the overall performance. Optical image stabilisation is a key feature which even the iPhone 6 lacks the same isn't true of the LG G3. Other features include 'Focus Pixels' which mean almost no focus hunting, particularly in videos, time-lapse and 240fps slo-mo.

The LG G3's camera is higher resolution at 13 Mp and, like the iPhone, has a dual-tone flash. Its headline feature is a laser powered autofocus which we've found to be lightning fast. The 'magic focus' feature is a little gimmicky but it can shoot video in up to 4K quality while the iPhone 6 Plus is limited to Full HD 1080p.

It's swings and roundabouts here as both phones have excellent cameras with a few features not found on the other. Check our in-depth reviews of each phone for a more detailed look.At the front, the LG G3 trumps the iPhone with a 2 Mp camera which can shoot Full HD video. The iPhone 6 Plus is lower resolution at 1.2 Mp and limited to 720p video.

iPhone 6 Plus vs LG G3: Software

As usual, one of the main differences here is that the iPhone 6 Plus runs Apple's own iOS platform while the LG G3 has Google's Android OS. If you're already loyal to one then and don't want to switch then that's pretty much the decision made for you.

If you're not set on one or the other then this is a key judgement to make. In a nut shell, iOS is reliable and smooth but more restrictive because Android is open and offers more customisability.

Since these phones are of the larger variety, both Apple and LG have implemented tools to help you use the software on a big screen.iOS 8 supports landscape orientation on the iPhone 6 Plus and a reachability feature means a double tap on the home button will bring icons or content towards the bottom half of the display so you can reach it with one hand.

LG offers an optional button which you can add to the navigation bar which will pull down and return the notification bar so you don't have to stretch to the top of the display for it. You can resize the keyboard and adjust the position of the lock screen PIN and dial keypad for one-handed operation. Furthermore, you can use dual-windows to run two apps side by side which the iPhone 6 Plus can't do.

Buying Advice In this battle, the iPhone 6 Plus and LG G3 are closely matched in many areas but the iPhone outpaces the LG G3 in benchmarks. However, the LG G3 has some impressive features including the Quad HD screen, wireless charging and IR blaster and packs the same screen size into a much smaller and lighter frame. The big price difference means the LG G3 is a better buy – unless you want iOS, in which case you'll have to shell out.